Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Felicity Aylieff

Felicity Aylieff has an established reputation as a maker of large-scale, sculptural ceramics.Her large-scale works, all hand-thrown and hand painted, are a towering testament to the centuries-old traditions which established Jingdezhen as the “Porcelain Capital” of the world.Born in Edlesborough, Bedfordshire, in 1954, Aylieff studied at Bath Academy of Art, gaining a first-class Honors degree in ceramics and textiles, followed by a teaching postgraduate year at Goldsmiths College in  1978.An ‘incredibly liberating’ artist residency in Jingdezhen, China, the historic home of Chinese porcelain production, saw the beginning of a series of monumental pots, the largest of which stands five meters (16 feet) high.Aylieff works at the ‘big ware’ factory — a family business which specializes in making large-scale pots up to three meters in height.It takes three throwers working in tandem to throw a big pot, and then, under her instruction, a team of ‘master throwers’ finishes her designs for monumental forms.Aylieff decorates in detail with fencai colored enamels, painting abstract marks in cobalt pigment with huge Chinese calligraphy brushes. Fencai is an over-glaze enamel technique that dates back to the 18th century used to decorate with color and pattern, porcelain pots made at the Imperial Kilns of Jingdezhen but painted at the Palace workshops in Beijing .Her work shows her passion for material and process through its use of color, pattern, and historically informed decorative techniques.More of Felicity Aylieff’s amazing ceramics can be found at https://www.felicityaylieff.com/  and https://www.rca.ac.uk/more/staff/felicity-aylieff/.